Life Sciences majors expand digital cancer analytics

Thermo Fisher Scientific has extended its Next Generation Sequencing Companion Dx Center of Excellence Programme (COEP) in Europe. The next-generation sequencing (NGS) provider added a second agreement with the Institute of Pathology Heidelberg (IPH) to its growing COEP portfolio. On the same day, Merck KGaA announced it will partner with Project Data Sphere LLC to jointly lead the Global Oncology Big Data Alliance (GOBDA).

Thermo Fisher Scientific's COEP initiative focuses on forging strategic collaborations with leading, European-based organisations to lead studies using the company’s Oncomine portfolio of research panels destined for development of companion diagnostics to help drive precision oncology. The first COEP agreement was inked with University Hospital Basel’s Institute of Medical Genetics and Pathology in April.

Working in collaboration with pharmaceutical companies and Thermo Fisher, the IPH Center of Molecular Pathology, headed by Dr. Albrecht Stenzinger, will conduct studies and clinical trials under the leadership of Professor Peter Schirmacher, director of the Institute of Pathology of Heidelberg University Hospital, which they use to profile in clinical trials across several cancer types and more than 3,500 samples in clinical diagnostics annually. The IPH hosts Germany’s largest tissue biobank to develop NGS-based diagnostics.

With the digitalisation hype entering the cancer space, company’s focus has shifted to data generation from patient cancer biopsies and its integration with clinical data such as medical records or digital pathology results. Companies such as 23&me or FMI/Flatiron have built up proprietary databases that use advanced algorithms for mutational profile analyses and therapy decision support while others are following an open access approach that could foster collaboration with academic groups.

Following the open access approach, German Merck KGaA announced at ESMO conference at Madrid that Merck and Project Data Sphere LLC, a non-profit initiative of the CEO Roundtable on Cancer‘s Life Sciences Consortium, will to jointly lead the Global Oncology Big Data Alliance (GOBDA). The GOBDA initiative has been formed to expand the open-access of de-identified patient data sets to further enhance analytical capabilities, by building on Project Data Sphere's digital platform. The current platform contains historical clinical trial data from almost 100,000 patients provided by multiple organisations, and access to this information has already led to new and potentially practice-changing findings.

GOBDA will expand this platform to include rare tumor trial, experimental arm and real-world patient data provided by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and other groups. GOBDA is aimed at using Big Data analytics to optimise stratification for clinical trials and targeted treatments, build a registry of data and help to enable advancement in the understanding of cancer treatment globally, with the mission to address the significant unmet needs in this field. Furthermore, partners in the initiative aim to improve the management of rare immune-mediated adverse events, to assist regulators to adapt new findings into treatment guidelines, improve pharmacovigilance as well as patient outcomes.

"Big data is changing the face of healthcare as we know it, and advances in our ability to collect data, share and analyze it has already led to ground-breaking work," said Dr Martin J. Murphy, CEO of Project Data Sphere LLC. "The joint force of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, and Project Data Sphere will aim to connect and empower a truly global oncology community with these big data and analytical capabilities. We are excited about the Global Oncology Big Data Alliance initiative and the continuing engagement of a diverse community focused on finding solutions for cancer patients."

„Merck KGaA is deeply committed to investing in initiatives that push the boundaries of cancer research, that we hope will accelerate the discovery, development and delivery of innovative treatments to all who need it," said Belén Garijo, CEO Healthcare at Merck.